Combined linen closet and clothes hamper



April 28, 1953 w. H. .1. DOWNEY COMBINED LINEN CLOSET AND CLOTHES HAMPER2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed April 15. 1949 INVENTOR Wf/l/am H J. Dow/7e yAttorney April 28, 1953 w. H. .1. DOWNEY ,636,80

COMBINED LINEN CLOSET AND CLOTHES HAMPER Filed April 15. 1949 2SHEETS--SHEET 2 25 @13 vzaanlw '1 I 25 O iL/ o aa b 2a 40 40 2,9 [29 Q\46 B an- INVENTOR William H. J. Downey Patented Apr. 28, 1953 STATESPATENT OFFICE CQMBINEB LINEN CLOSET AND CLDTHES.

HAMPER William Ell; J. owney, Wilmington, Del.

Application April 15, 1949, Serial No. 8 1,783.

2 Claims. (01. 312F328.)

This invention relates generally to the class of cabinets and isdirected. particularly to an improved cabinet structure designed. foruse as a linen closet and soiled clothes hamper.

A principal object of the present invention is to cabinet structureformed of sheet metal,

in units and readily assembled or set up mouth of the hamper is openedready for the reception of soiledv clothing or other articles.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cabinetstructure. wherein novel means is provided. for detachably supporting aplurality of shelves, such. shelf supporting means comprising a unitwhich is insertible into the cabinet through the. top thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the. invention will become apparent asthe description of the same proceeds and the invention. will be bestunderstood from a consideration of the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming. a part ofthe specification, with the understanding, however, that the inventionis not to be limited to the exact details of construction shown anddescribed since obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled inthe art.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a view in perspective of the linen closet enclosed hamper ofthe present invention, showing the closet door open and the clotheshamper door open.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section of. the lower section of the structurewith the hamper bag removed and showing the door in opened position.

Figure 3 is avertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3of Figure 2 showing the bag in position and in transverse section.

Figure 4 is a detail perspective of the upper portion of the lowersection showing the: lower part of the upper section in dotted outlinethere- Figure 5 is a detailed section taken substantially on the line5-5 of Figure 2.

of a novel design whereby it may be Figure 6 adetailed section takensubstantially on the line 5-6 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is aview in perspective of the upper portion of the shelfsupporting frame unit.

Figure 8 a detailed perspective of one end of a shelf unit.

Referring now more particularly to. the drawthe cabinet structure or"the present invention com-prises an upper section it and a lower sectionit together with a supporting base. i2 upon which the lower section ismounted.

The cabinet is preferably constructed of sheet metal and the upperportion It comprises the side walls. it and back wall M. The side wallsit are turned inwardly at the front of the section to provide the frontwall panels l5 each of which has a vertical edge turned back asindicated at it to form channel in which a reinforoin strip llis-scured. Between the panels i5 is the door opening which is covered bythe door unit [3 hingedly mounted as at It to the inner edge of one ofthe front wall panels It as illustrated.

The door unit it is formed of sheet metal havinturned flanges Iii whichsecure against the inner side of the metal sheet the thin reinforcingpanel it which may be formed of wood or other suitable material.

The top of the upper section is generally designated 2i and thiscomprises a suitable sheet of metal having the surrounding downturnedi'lang'es 22 which enclose the top edges of the walls l3 andt land the front wall panels l5 and suchv top unit is secured by bolts,screws or the like as designated at 23. Thus it will be seen that byremoval of the-top 2! the hereinafter described shelving and supportingmeans therefor may be readily placed in position.

A bottom shelf 24 is disposed in the upper part. of the lower sectionand in addition to providing a bottom for the upper section provides atop for the lower section as will be readily apparent.

The lower section l I is constructed in a similar manner to the uppersection in that it has the sidewalls 2i)? and back. wall 26 formedpreferably of a single sheet of sheet metal, the side walls having.inwardly turned front wall panel forming sections 2?, each of whichterminates in an inwardly directed flange is forming an inwardlydirected recess or channel in which is fitted a reinforcing strip 29 ofwood. or other suitable material.

As shownv in Figure 4 the side walls 25 and the back wall 26 of thelower section are extended slightly above the top end of the panels 2'!and the. reinforcing strips. 29 forming a flange 25a. This flangeportion around the top of the lower section is inserted into the lowerpart of the upper section whereby to rest the upper section upon thelower section and lower ends of the reinforcing inserts I1 and of thefront wall panels of the upper section rest upon the top ends of thereinforcing inserts 29 and the front panels 2'! of the lower section.After the sections are assembled in this manner a trim strip or band isplaced around the structure to cover the joint between the walls of theupper and lower sections and to extend across the joining edges of thefront wall panels l5 and 21 and such trim strip is secured in place bymetal screws, bolts or other suitable securing elements as indicated at3|.

Connecting the ends of the trim strip 30 in the front of the cabinet andextending across the lower part of the door opening of the upper sectionand the upper part of the door opening for the lower section, is a flatrail 32, the ends of which are secured to the front wall panel sectionsof the upper and lower cabinet sections, by means of securing elements3| which secure the trim strip in place.

The lower section side walls 25 and the back wall 26 have the inturnedfoot flanges 33 which rest upon the top of the base unit If and aresecured thereto by bolts, screws or the like as indicated at 34. Thebase unit comprises a sheet metal panel 35 which has the down turnedflanges or skirts 36 whereby there is formed a downwardly openingbox-like unit in each of the corners of which is secured a supportingfoot 3?. The metal sheet 35 forms the bottom or floor for the lowercabinet section and this floor is provided with a plurality ofventilation apertures 38 for the purpose hereinafter described. Inaddition to the ventilation apertures there are formed in the floorsheet 35, within the door opening 35a the hinge pin openings 43 by meansof which the pivotal mounting of an outwardly swinging or tilting doorpanel is effected. Such door panel is generally designated 4| and ispreferably constructed in a similar manner to the door It in that itcomprises an outer metal sheet 42 which is of a size to fit within thelower cabinet section opening 39 and which has the inturned flanges 43which engage over the edges of a reinforcing panel 44 which is placedagainst the inner side of the sheet 42 and which may be formed of wood,pressed fiber board or other suitable material.

At the top of the swinging door unit 4| a portion of the metal sheet 42is extended upwardly to form a lip 45 which, when the door unit 4| isclosed engages against the forward face of the rail 32.

At the bottom of the door unit 4|, a portion of the flange 43 extendsstraight inwardly, substantially perpendicular to the sheet 42 of whichit forms a part, as indicated at 43c and this inwardly extending portionof the flange carries a pair of downwardly and forwardly curving pins46, each of which engages loosely in an opening 4|). The pins, looselyengaging in the openings 40, thus form a hinge connection with the baseof the cabinet for the door unit 4| which permits the door unit to beswung outwardly and also permits the door unit to be easily and quicklydetached from the floor 35 for removal.

The upper part of the door unit 4| carries a suitable latch 41 which,when the door unit is in closed position, engages behind the rail 32 bybeing rotated through the medium of the button 41a.

A similar rotatable latch 48 is carried by the F or hamper 52.

door unit l8 which engages against the inner edge of the inturned flangeportion of the adjacent front wall panel section 5, when the door unitit? is closed, as will be readily apparent.

The back wall 25 of the lower section of the cabinet carries a pair ofhooks 49 which are disposed just below the shelf panel 24 which is fixedin the upper part of the lower cabinet section as shown and there areformed in the back wall, preferably in the upper portion thereof betweenthe hooks 49, ventilating openings 50.

Upon the inner side of the lower section door unit 4| are mounted hooks5| which cooperate with the hooks 49 to support a soiled clothes bagThis bag 52 is of substantially V- shaped cross sectional form as shownin Figure 3 and adjacent to the top edge of both the front and backwalls 53 it has grommets 53' each of which is detachably engaged over ahook whereby to suspend the bag between the front wall unit 4| and theback wall 26. The lower part of the bag rests upon the floor 35 at theventilation openings 38. Thus it will be seen that by the provision ofthe openings 38 and 5|] a suitable movement of air through the lowercabinet section may take place to provide for the thorough ventilationof the bag.

The upper section H! has therein a plurality of shelves which aresupported, removably, in the following novel manner.

Arranged in spaced relation within the upper section are the twoinverted substantially U- shaped frames 54 each of which comprises a toptransverse or horizontal rail 55 and the vertical side rails or posts56. One of these frames is disposed in the rear part of the cabinetsection while the other one is disposed in the front part thereof andthe lower ends of the posts 56 rest upon the fioor 24.

Connecting between the adjacent front and rear posts 5% are thevertically spaced horizontal rungs 5i which not only function tomaintain the frames 54 in the proper spaced relation but also serve themore important function of supporting the removable shelf units 58. Eachshelf unit, which is preferably formed of sheet metal of suitableweight, comprises the rectangular sheet 59 which has the forwardlongitudinal edge portion turned down and folded back to form the frontreinforcing flange 60. At each end of the shelf is a down turned tongue6| which is of a length materially less than the width of the shelfwhereby to provide the corner spaces 62 in which the upright posts 56 ofthe supporting frames position when the tongue 6| is inserted between arung or rail 57 and the adjacent side wall l3.

It will be readily apparent that the shelf supporting unit comprisingthe frames 54 and the connecting rungs or bars 5? may be easily placedin position within the cabinet section before the top 2| is placed andsecured and since the top 2| is readily removable it will be apparentthat the shelf supporting unit can be taken out if and when desired.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that there is provided inthe present invention a new and novel type of combination linen cabinetand clothes hamper wherein the two units or sections are constructed andassembled in a novel manner and wherein, in the clothes hamper unit orsection provision is made for sup porting a removable clothes receptacleor bag in such a manner that it will open up upon open- 5 ing of the(1001' to the hamper to facilitate the placing of soiled linen therein.

It will also be apparent that the present construction for the shelvingin the upper section of the cabinet is such that the construction andassembling of the shelving in the section may be effected with a minimumof effort and the shelves are supported in such a manner that they maybe easily and quickly removed for cleaning when necessary.

I claim:

1. In a clothes hamper, a supporting base, a compartment forming bodymounted on the base and comprising top, bottom, back and side walls, andan open front, the bottom wall having a series of ventilating aperturesspaced along its longitudinal center, a door hinged for outward anddownward swinging movement normally closing the open front, a bag-likecontainer of V-form in transverse section within the body, and meanscarried by the back wall and the door engageable with the top end of theback and front walls of the container for detachably suspending thecontainer in place, the bottom of the bag being disposed in closeproximity to and in line with the said apertures.

2. The clothes hamper as defined in claim 1, with the said bagsuspension means comprising hook elements carried adjacent the top ofthe back wall, other hook elements carried on the door opposite from thefirst hook elements, and grommets secured in the tops of the rear andfront walls of the container and engaged with the hook elements.

WILLIAM H. J. DOWNEY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

